[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday unanimously upheld [ruling, PDF] a 2006 federal court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] that the state of Missouri must provide inmates with transportation to a medical facility for a non-therapeutic abortion. The Eighth Circuit rejected the trial court's
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[JURIST] An Afghan journalism student charged with blasphemy was sentenced to death Tuesday, following a recommendation from the Afghan Council of Mullahs. A three-judge panel found that papers printed from the Internet by 23-year-old Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, allegedly including discussion of women's role in society, insulted Islam and invoked Article
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[JURIST] The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) [official website] Tuesday released a report [PDF text; CoE press release] criticizing the United Kingdom's voting system for its vulnerability to fraud. A February 2007 fact-finding trip conducted by a PACE committee found that fraud risks are "mainly the result of the,
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[JURIST] Jury selection began Tuesday in the retrial of six of the seven men charged with allegedly conspiring to bomb [DOJ press release] the FBI headquarters in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago. The seven men first went to trial last year, but in December one man was acquitted
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[JURIST] Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison Tuesday in connection with his conviction [JURIST report] on terrorism-related charges. US District Judge Marcia Cooke [official profile] handed down the sentence following two weeks of sentencing hearings, during which the government sought life
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[JURIST] Kenya's main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) [party website], has filed a formal complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], alleging that the Kenyan government has committed crimes against humanity in using force against demonstrators protesting the recent disputed re-election [JURIST report], an ODM spokesperson
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[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] Tuesday ruled [DOC text; press release] that France violated the rights of a lesbian woman by refusing her application to adopt a child because of her sexual preference. The French officials rejected the woman's application on the grounds that she
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[JURIST] The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) [advocacy website] on Monday released internal Canadian government documents [PDF text] detailing evidence of continued mistreatment and abuse of detainees transferred by Canadian forces to Afghan authorities. The documents, originally distributed to senior officials of the Canadian government and officers of the
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[JURIST] Zimbabwean police banned an opposition party political march on Tuesday, setting the stage for a legal battle involving recent amendments [JURIST report] to Zimbabwe's restrictive Public Order and Security Act [PDF text], which allows police to deny any party's application for a public gathering. Under the old version of
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[JURIST] The Russian Prosecutor General's office [official website, in Russian] said Tuesday it has launched a forgery investigation targeting former Russian prime minister and now opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov [BBC profile]. According to Russian news agencies, the investigation relates to allegations that signatures were forged on petitions nominating Kasyanov for
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[JURIST] The government of Pakistan, which has kept Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] and several other judges and lawyers under preventative detention since President Musharraf declared emergency rule [text; JURIST report] on November 3, may be attempting to avoid constitutional restraints on the duration
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